Overview: 0x (ZRX) the open protocol for decentralized exchange of Ethereum tokens

Overview: 0x (ZRX) the open protocol for decentralized exchange of Ethereum tokens

Nutshell

0x is creating a protocol using Ethereum smart contracts for anyone in the world to operate a decentralized exchange.

The team behind the 0x believes that there will be thousands of Ethereum tokens in the future and there will be a need to trustlessly and efficiently exchange them.

The protocol is already used by some exchanges meaning its operational.

0x ran an ICO where they raised $24M in August 2017

Usage and Tokens

The project tries to implement the vision where forms of value are tokenized on public blockchains. This includes fiat currencies, stocks, bonds, commodities, debt instruments, real estate, video game items, digital collectibles, software licenses, reputation etc

To achieve that they are trying to allow people to easily exchange the tokens via the protocol.

0x has its own Ethereum token, ZRX, which is used to pay trading fees to Relayers for their services.

However, the main purpose for ZRX is decentralized governance over 0x protocol’s upgrade system, meaning owning ZRX gives you a say proportional to your holdings in how the protocol should be improved over time

Development

The big milestone was the release of the 0x protocol v2.0. Version 2.0 brings further modularity and extensibility, allowing developers to address many new use cases.

The new upadted roadmap supposed to be published at the end of this year.

The biggest recent development was ZRX being added to Coinbse joining the existing 5 coins: BTC, ETH, BCH, ETC and LTC. This is the first tokens added to Coinbase after a long time.

There are several relay exchanges already using 0x with the biggest ones being: DDEX, Radar Relay, Paradex and recently The Ocean.

Availability and price

ZRX is listed on several significant exchanges with the main ones being:
Binance (40% of volume), Coinbase Pro (27%), Ethfinex (7%), Upbit (6%), Bittrex (3%) - also on many more like Poloniex, OKEx, ABCC etc. Also on Coinbase app.

Bitcoin is the most popular pairing but also paired with USD, KRW, ETH, EUR, USDT

Current price as of 19th of October is around $0.89 with ZRX being ranked on 22th place in terms of the market capitalisation and market cap of around $485M.

542M out of 1B of tokens are currently in circulation.

ZRX has been one of the stronger altcoins this year and outperformed majority of cryptocurrencies being worse only against Bitcoin and even doing better than Ethereum The ATH is $2.53 and was achieved on 9th of January during altcoin pump of January.

Other aspects

There are currently around 35 employees according to LinkedIn meaning a pretty large team. They have office in San Francisco, USA.

One of the few projects in the cryptocurrency world that already have working product.

Cryptocurrencies are only the beginning. As the next step the team plants to tokenise the gaming assets and build player marketplaces on the new 0x V2! This includes tradeables and collectibles.

There is some competition in the sector but 0x seems to ahead and doing better. The main competition includes Kyber Network and Raiden.

My verdict

0x is quickly become one of the most established altcoins out there and the listing on the Coinbase just confirms how well the project is doing.

It is currently the cheapest and lowest mcap altcoin that has been listen on Coinbase meaning that many people will look into it when next bull market begins.

Apart from relays the 0x is also used by other projects including Augur, Request, Maker, Aragon, District0x, Blocknet and more.

0x is a very promising projnect and one of the safest altcoins to invest into since it's backed by real life usage. I think the current valuation is low considering the potential of the project.